Finch Bowl

Today is Super Sunday, which means that the entire nation seems to go beside themselves with excitement over a football (American style) game, this year between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. Already it begins to sound a bit surreal and begs the question of whether there is really a frenzy of excitement over a game that is becoming increasingly tarnished by violence and injury, or whether it is a frenzy mostly of the media's making....

It is particularly telling that this bowl game, now in its 53rd year...or LIII as the use of Roman  numerals has been de rigeur since Super Bowl I, has spawned a second contest amongst the commercials which are shown at a cost of $5million/minute during the game. Weird

It is a sign of my advancing age that I can still remember gathering  with OilMan, my husband of six months, and several school friends, mine from high school, OilMan's from CalTech, to watch on a tiny black and white television set up on a card table in my parents' living room in Pasadena. I suppose it was exciting, although even back then I think I found it difficult to relate to what all the fuss was about.
I still do.

But it will be on in our house. I have made a giant pot of braised short ribs and a tray of roasted vegetables. Dana, an avid sports fan and rabid hater of the Patriots, their veteran quarterback, Tom Brady and everything they stand for, Jim, who tends to be more mild mannered about it, and their friends Kim and Chris (I don't know where they stand), are going to share it with us. I suspect very few of us will be watching the game, although the Ram's young rookie quarterback, Jared Goff, hails from my Alma Mater, kindling the barest spark of interest in my breast.

Never short of well worn superlatives, It is being billed by the press as a David v Goliath contest.

Still not feeling 100%, I watched the birds congregate around the feeder between bouts of rain this morning. They assemble in the branches of the bottlebrush and the plum tree awaiting their chance to swoop in. It is clearly a heated competition, yet there is no violence and not even a bit of violation of personal bird space. More a game of strategy and finesse...more my speed too.